Overlapse has had a terrific year making photobooks and setting them free into the wild!
A highlight for us was rounding up at Polycopies in Paris, where we met some visionary publishers and connected with wonderful new friends from around the world. The directors Sebastian and Laurent curate and organise a rocking annual event (this year covered in live video by The New York Times). It was an incredible experience and we hope to see you there in 2018!
December brought surprises with the annual, semi-notorious ‘end of year’ lists, highlighting some of the ‘best’ photobooks released 2017 according to critics, collectors, booksellers, curators, photographers and more. Although loads of great photobooks are inevitably overlooked and under-seen, it’s been exciting to discover that two of our publications have been particularly noteworthy. We want to share our successes with all of our supporters, so if you’re interested do check out the links below to read what selectors had to say (writing thoughtfully about their choices in many cases) and discover some excellent books published in 2017:
Beyond Drifting by Mandy Barker:
* Ten Best Photography Books of 2017, Smithsonian Magazine
* Photo-eye Best Books of 2017, selected by Laura M. André, Photo-eye Book Division Manager
* Photo-eye Best Books of 2017, selected by Sara Terry, Publisher & Guggenheim Fellow
* Photobookstore Magazine Photobooks of 2017, selected by David Solo, Collector
* Photobookstore Magazine Photobooks of 2017, selected by 10×10 Photobooks Team
* Photobook Phenomenon Choice of 2017, selected by Bint photoBooks, Collector
* Selected Photobooks of 2017, Women Photograph
* Artist Edition highlighted by David Solo and Hyperallergic
Laura M. André on Beyond Drifting: “This conceptually rich photobook is the sleeper of the year. Think Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species meets Anna Atkins’ Cyanotypes of British Algae. From the faded and stained cover to the facsimile pages of creased, mold spotted, bleed-through paper, Mandy Barker’s brilliantly conceived, designed, and executed faux-Victorian photobook deftly addresses the contemporary, global environmental crisis of plastic ocean debris… This book is a knockout!”
The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer by Amani Willett:
* Photo-eye Best Books of 2017, selected by Aline Smithson, Editor in Chief of LENSCRATCH
* Really Good Photobooks Published in 2017, selected by Humble Arts Foundation NY
* Favorite Photobooks of 2017, selected by Suzanne Révy and Elin Spring
* PDN Editors’ Pick, 2017 Gift Guide
Aline Smithson on The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer: “It’s incredibly difficult to speak to a Best Book, but I am a longtime fan of how Amani Willett tells stories… Presented as surreal and cinematic storytelling, The Disappearance of Joseph Plummer is the perfect combination of nightmares and daydreams, beautifully mysterious and intriguing, in the style of all good novels.”
We’ll end 2017 with A MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who has looked at our books this year, to all who made a purchase, and to those of you who helped spread the word about our photographers/artists and publications in media, social networks and in real life! We couldn’t do all this work without your support, and the experiences of 2017 have energised us – we’re bubbling with anticipation to show you our upcoming projects in 2018.
All best wishes for a Happy New Year!
Further reading:
See Photobookstore Magazine’s Photobooks of 2017 – All lists
See Photo-eye’s Best Books of 2017 – Full list
See the ‘Meta-list’ of Favourite Photobooks of 2017 – Compiled by Viory Schellekens